Stage and screen actress Ashley Judd will star in the forthcoming film "Helen," Variety reports.

The Egoli Tossell Film and Insight Film Studios project is penned and directed by Sandra Nettelbeck ("Mostly Martha"). Filming will begin Oct. 2 in Vancouver, according to the trade mag. The film follows the story of a talented professor who must come to terms with her clinical depression. Jeffrey Dean Morgan had previously been attached to the work.

Judd played on Broadway in 2003's revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. That work marked her first return to the stage since her debut in 1994's Picnic. The actress is known for her film roles in "Heat," "Frida," "A Time to Kill," "Kiss the Girls," "Double Jeopardy," "De-Lovely" and most recently "Bug." She next appears in "Crossing Over."